INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO

Issues of the European Identity

The Impact of Secularism on the European Identity

Betul Fatma Comert Abed 6/4/2015

Introduction

Secularism is a principle that involves two basic

propositions which are, first, the strict separation of the

state from religious institutions and second, that people of

different religions and beliefs are equal before the law.1

Since the frame of secularism is as in its description it has

had a very important role in shaping the European Identity. For

example, French identity is strongly affected by secularism

which has reached discrimination among the citizens.2 Some

countries were affected too much, like France, and some others

are not that much affected by secularism, like Italy.

Ingrid Kylstad, in her article which was published in the

discussion paper series of London School of Economics and

Political Science, states that in Europe, the idea of

secularism that grew out of the relationship between the

Church, the nation-state and the Enlightenment is a peculiarly

European phenomenon. According to the article, secularization

means both a decline in the social significance of religion as

well as in individual belief and religious practices. Political

and humanist critique that the Enlightenment leveled at

1“What is secularism?”, National Secular Society, http://www.secularism.org.uk/what-is-secularism.html (Accessed 5.14.2015)2 French Identity, From the Class Presentation2 | P a g e

religion created a narrative which tied secularism tightly to

the process of modernity; to be modern and progressive is to

not be religious. Europeans think that they are supposed to be

irreligious.3 This observation shows how the European identity

has been affected by the secularism and where it stays in

shaping their identity.

In this final research paper, I will write about the

impact of secularism in the European identity. First of all I

will describe what secularism is. After that, I will write how

the secularism started to enter to the European governmental

system and how the progress was in the region. I will discuss

some questions related to the European Union, such as,

unaccepted Turkish membership to the EU; does this have any

relation with the secularist European identity? At the end I

will give examples from the European countries in order to see

in which level secularism is applied and effective in Europe.

What is Secularism?

3IngridKylstad, “Turkey and the EU: A ‘new’ European Identity in the making?”, The London School of Economics and Political Science (Europe in Question, Discussion Paper Series), October 2010 http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/LEQS/LEQSPaper27.pdf (Accessed 4 June 2015)3 | P a g e

As it was described in the introduction, secularism is

separation of religious institutions from the government, and

all people who have different believes are equal before the

law. By separation of religion from the government both

institutions are not going to involve in each other’ issues.

Secularists believe that the idea of secularism is to protect

freedom of religious belief and practice for all citizens. It

does not limit the religious freedom; it is just to ensure the

freedoms of thought and conscience apply equally to all

believers and non-believers alike.4 They also believe that

secularism is about democracy. In the website of National

Secular Society, who are working to challenge religious privilege in UK

and in Europe, they describe secularism as in the following:

In a secular democracy all citizens are equal

before the law and parliament. No religious or

political affiliation gives advantages or

disadvantages and religious believers are citizens

with the same rights and obligations as anyone

else. Secularism champions human rights above

discriminatory religious demands. It upholds

equality laws that protect women, LGBT people and4 “What is secularism?”, National Secular Society

4 | P a g e

minorities. These equality laws ensure that non-

believers have the same rights as those who

identify with a religious or philosophical belief.

Atheism is a lack of belief in gods. Secularism

simply provides a framework for a democratic

society. Atheists have an obvious interest in

supporting secularism, but secularism itself does

not seek to challenge the tenets of any particular

religion or belief, neither does it seek to impose

atheism on anyone. Secularism is the best chance

we have to create a society in which people of all

religions or none can live together fairly and

peacefully.5

This society describes secularism as in the paragraph

above but when we look at its application in the countries,

like in France; we do not see secularism is applied as in these

statements. So, here are the questions; do European countries

understand what really secularism is? What is the reason of

veil ban in France which is highly secularized country?

Secularism in Europe: Brief History

5“ What is secularism?”, National Secular Society5 | P a g e

It can be said that after the Peace of Westphalia, in

1648, religion became an issue in the European politics6 and

the idea of secularism had started in the Western Europe since

that time. The rise of capitalism and emerging of stronger

nation states triggered the spread of the idea. The development

of the sciences, like technology, industry, and social

sciences, by the Enlightenment, put the religion to aside, and

reduced the influence of it on the state.7 The first condition

of democratization was to separate religion and state affairs

from each other because it was seen that religion would limit

the process of modernization.8 Voltaire (1694–1778), who was a

famous French Enlightenment writer, philosopher, and historian

and was attacking the Catholic Church and advocating the people

who were victims of the church9, said that religion was a good

thing for the lower classes, to keep them honest, diligent, and

6 Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, “The Politics of Secularism in International Relations”(Princeton University Press, Jan 10, 2009), 3.7 “Secularization and Secularism- History and Nature of Secularization and Secularism to 1914”, http://science.jrank.org/pages/11240/Secularization-Secularism-History-Nature-Secularization-Secularism-1914.html (Accessed 4 June 2015)8 Prof. Dr. Yves Bizeul, “Secularism in Europe”, European Liberal Forum (Berlin;European Liberal Forum, asbl),6.9“Voltaire- Biography”, The European Graduate School (Graduate and Postgraduate Studies) http://www.egs.edu/library/voltaire/biography/ (Accessed 4 June 2015)6 | P a g e

peaceful, an idea that got support from the anti-church

violence during the French Revolution.10

Nationalism supported the growth of secularism vastly. It

is assumed that the idea of nationalism enabled an ideology for

non-religious people, and it was a secular force, so the

religion could play only a secondary or even lower role in most

of the states. For example, after the spread of secularism it

could be observed that many of the socialist movements were

anti-religious. The atheism of Karl Marx (1818–1883), (It is

special to him because it was not only practical but also

theoretical11), got many supporters especially from the

workers. According to his theory religion is unnecessary in a

communist state.12

Many states have applied secularism in their ruling system

after severe fights. For instance, the unification of Italy

became real after breaking up with the church. Italy was

suffering of the church and until Mussolini came to power the

church and state remained separated. It was same in France;

there were big problems between clericals and anti-clericals.

10 “Secularisation and Secularism”11 “The Atheism of Karl Marx”, Eternal Word Television Network, https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology/ATHEMARX.HTM (Accessed 4 June 2015) 12 “Secularization and Secularism” 7 | P a g e

However these problems were more violent in France, than in

Britain or America;

French laicism has been successful and in 1905 the state has

disestablished the Catholic Church. In Britain the Church

remained established but it was not effective as much as

before. Due to the fights of the secularist groups, Jews, and

atheists, the church could not survive strong and its power

declined.13

There have been other changes by the spreading of

secularism. In the matter of education, more children and young

people joint to the public educational institutions and they

got a highly secularized education. The main issues of the

politics were Catholic Church and fights against it, in many

Western European countries14.

It can be said that there were two versions of secularism.

One was “hard secularism” which was a radical distinction

driven by laicism in opposition to religion in predominantly

Catholic countries. And the other one was “soft” or “gentle

secularism” in predominantly Protestant regions, which tended

to occur as a gradual internal erosion of the religion. When we

13 Ibid14 “Secularization and Secularism” 8 | P a g e

discuss both of them we can conclude that religion does not

have its ability to direct people and to form social relations.

However, later on “gentle secularism” turned to “hard

secularism, in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

The gentle version of secularism still predominates in the

Anglo-Saxon countries.15

Secularism in Europe: Today

José Casanova, who is one of the world's top scholars in

the sociology of religion16, in his article “Religion, European

secular identities, and European integration” states that since

the Treaty of Rome, in 1957, that led the establishment of the

EEC and the process of the European integration, the Western

European communities entered to a fast, influential, and kind

of irreversible process of secularization. In the same article,

Casanova describes the secularism in the Europe as in the

following:

The progressive, though highly uneven,

secularization of Europe is an undeniable social

fact.[1] An increasing majority of the European 15 “Secularism in Europe”, 7.16“Jose Casanova”, Georgetown University: Berkley Center for Religion, Peaceand World Affairs, http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/jose-casanova(Accessed 4 June 2015)9 | P a g e

population has ceased to participate in traditional

religious practices, at least on a regular basis,

while still maintaining relatively high levels of

private individual religious beliefs. In this

respect, one should perhaps talk of the unchurching

of the European population and of religious

individualization, rather than of secularization.

Grace Davie has characterized this general European

situation as "believing without belonging".[2] At

the same time, however, large numbers of Europeans

even in the most secular countries still identify

themselves as "Christian," pointing to an implicit,

diffused, and submerged Christian cultural

identity. In this sense, Danièle Hervieu-Léger is

also correct when she offers the reverse

characterization of the European situation as

"belonging without believing."[3] "Secular" and

"Christian" cultural identities are intertwined in

complex and rarely verbalized modes among most

Europeans.17

17 “Jose Casanova” 10 | P a g e

Today, the impact of secularism in the European identity

is quite visible. In the ruling of the states there is

separation between the religious and state institutions, also

believers of other religions and philosophical ideas are equal

before the law. However this rule cannot be applied when we

talk about Muslim countries which want to join to the European

Union, such as Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here, I would

like to open a parenthesis related to the integration of Turkey

to the EU and whether secularism of the Europe is obstacle to

this integration.

There are many other reasons of unaccepted membership of

Turkey to the EU, such as large population of Turkey, its place

on the map, and being a Muslim country. Secularism is among

these reasons that is affected it this being unaccepted. As we

have mentioned, Europe believes that secularism is a sign of

progress and modernity, and religion is sign of stagnation and

being unenlightened.18 In her article Kylstad points that issue

as in the following sentences:

Turkey has not gone through a Christianity-inspired

period of Enlightenment and thus does not live the

18 Kylstad, “Turkey and the EU”.11 | P a g e

Christian secularism that most EU-countries live

today. Membership bid of Turkey also requires a

radical rethink of European secularism.

Fundamentally, the debate highlights how Christian

Europe still is, also when it is secular. This why

the liberal secular elites are equally haunted by

‘...unspoken, “cultural” requirements…’.

Consequently, what makes European secularism

European is not found in its implementation but

rather in its Christian and Enlightenment roots,

and this is what makes Turkish secularism so

difficult for European to understand and accept. It

is in subtle ways like these that religion forms a

major component of a cultural identity for the

European Union and becomes an unwritten requirement

for membership.19

These observations of the author is very important and

informative related to the Turkish issue. It shows what the

Europe actually wants without having them written as criteria

for joining to the EU.

19 Ibid12 | P a g e

Case Study: France and Italy

In this part of the research paper I chose two countries

to study, to compare, and to contrast secularism on them; one

is France which is in the Western Europe and very famous with

its being a radical secularist country, and the other one is

Italy which belongs to the Southern part of the Europe and

beside being secularist, there can be seen a level of harmony

between religion and the state. According to the information

which will be given in the following sentences, it will be seen

which country is applying the “real secularism”, and which one

is applying it in the level of being anti-religious and

discrimination.

France

“France is an averagely religious country with a fiercely

non-religious state.”, says Tim King in his article “Secularism

in France”.20Indeed, due to the scarf problems in the school,

or even forbidding wearing veil on street, it is well

understood that France is very aggressive when it comes to the

religious practices, and secularism is the main principle of

20Tim King, “Secularism in France”, Prospect, the leading magazine of ideas, March 20 2004 http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/secularisminfrance (Accessed4 June 2015)13 | P a g e

the French policy, however for the sake of democracy, probably,

they do not ban everything, but ban something. During the

research we have talked about the history of secularism in

Europe. The roots of secularism in France also come from these

times.

For many centuries, the Catholic Church had big influence

in the ruling of the state, including education and providing

public order. Then fights started; in 1789, by the end of the

revolution a declaration was announced which includes “No-one

may be disturbed on the basis of his or her beliefs, even

religious beliefs, as long as their manifestation does not

interfere with the public order established by the law.”. After

that the fights did not finish, conversely it increased and

became even more hostile. Then, in 1905, the Separation Law had

been brought into force; the Church and the state had been

separated.21

The law that was made in 1905 does not discriminate the

religious citizens of the community. There is no statement

related to clothing according to a religion in public, for 21 Nicky Jones, “Religious Freedom in a secular society: The case of the Islamic headscarf in France”, 15 August 2009http://www.iclrs.org/docs/Religious_freedom_in_a_secular_society_JONES_161109.pdf (Accessed 5 June 2015)14 | P a g e

example. It talks about equality for immigrants but only as

long as they become like the French, adopting French language,

culture and values, they are more welcomed.22

Today, in France, every year at the beginning of the

semester, in September, students and parents must sign a

charter of laïcité to “demonstrate their willingness to respect

it.”23Another example of being a secularist country is about

wearing or carrying religious symbols in public schools.

According to the rule, all visible signs which make the

religious affiliation of the student immediately identifiable,

which includes scarves, Jewish skullcaps and oversized

Christian crosses, are banned in the public schools. Those who

are wearing these will be suspended or expelled from the

school.24 I would like to end the France issue with an example.

In 1989, in town of Creil, three Muslim girls were

expelled from the school because they were wearing scarves

inside of the school. Of course this followed chains of such

events in France; protests against this application had been

22 King, “Secularism in France”23 Steven Erlanger, Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, “Old Tradition of Secularism Clashes With France’s New Reality”, February 2015http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/world/old-tradition-of-secularism-clashes-with-frances-new-reality.html?_r=0 (Accessed 4 June 2015) 24 Jones, “Religious Freedom in a secular society”15 | P a g e

started. The reason of the expell was that headscarf is a

powerful religious symbol. The Conseil d‟État (Council of the

State) stated that “wearing religious signs such as the Islamic

headscarf is not by itself incompatible with the principle of

secularism, insofar as it constitutes the exercise of freedom

of expression and freedom of manifestation of religious

beliefs”. So according to that students can wear “signs of

religious affiliation” in public schools without compromising

the principles of secularism, but cannot wear scarves because

it does not fit wit the rule. The Council also said that “The

freedoms could be limited if the signs of religious

affiliation, by their “ostentatious or protesting‟ character or

by the conditions in which they were worn, constituted an act

of pressure, provocation, proselytism or propaganda,

jeopardised the dignity or freedom of the students wearing the

signs or of other students or staff, compromised health or

safety, disrupted teaching activities or disturbed order and

the normal operation of the school.”25

Italy

25 Jones, “Religious Freedom in a secular society”16 | P a g e

In the history of Italy, we see the entangled relations of

the state and the Catholic Church, as in other European

countries. However, the unification period of Italy between

1860 and 1870 ended with many fights; the process of secularism

started. After that, until the WWI the state was completely

secular. The War prepared an atmosphere for two sides to come

together again. After the war, in 1922, the Fascist Party won

the elections and started a policy of reconciliation with the

Church. This reapproachment period reached its top in 1929, in

the Laterian Treaties which solved the problem between the

state and Church and led to the establishment of Vatican

State.26

Italy is populated mostly by Catholics, however it is hard

to talk about the percentages because Italy is a secularist

country and the national census does not include questions on

religious affiliation.27 About the political and the social

identity of Italy, the following statistics might give us some

clues:

26 Alessandro Ferrari, Silvio Ferrari, “Religion and the secular state: Italian Case” http://www.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Italy.pdf (Accessed 4 June 2015)27 Ibid17 | P a g e

About ninety percent of the pupils at State schools

take part in Catholic religious education classes,

whereas less than forty percent of taxpayers give

the Catholic Church the part of income tax allotted

to religious denominations or State social welfare

institutions. About sixty percent of all religious

marriages take place according to Catholic rites,

but – in spite of the high percentage of citizens

who have received Catholic baptism. In addition,

the Papacy resides in Italy, which gives the

Catholic Church great influence over political and

social events in the country regardless of the

statistical figures on the religious beliefs of

Italians. The spread of the “new religious

movements” (an inappropriate expression which has,

however, become common) seems to be less

significant than in other Western European

countries.28

Conclusion

28 Ferrari, “Italian Case”18 | P a g e

As a result, in the Europe religion does not have its

former value anymore. Most people do not really believe in a

religion they are only making traditional practices of their

religions. Religion became a ritual for them, such as

Christian burials, betrothals, Christmas masses and, to a more

limited degree, baptisms.

When we come to our case study, in Italy, the state

ensures the religious freedom rather than attacking it.

Secularism, in Italy, is not used to restrict people’ daily

life, including education, and political life as much as it

does in France. On the other hand, by being secularist, France

is giving signs of anti-religion.

We can conclude that there is impact of secularism in the

European identity but it is not equal in all of the European

countries.

19 | P a g e

References:

1. National Secular Society,

<http://www.secularism.org.uk/what-is-secularism.html>

2. French Identity, From the Class Presentation

3. Kylstad, Ingrid “Turkey and the EU: A ‘new’ European

Identity in the making?”, The London School of Economics and

Political Science (Europe in Question, Discussion Paper Series), October

2010

<http://www.lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute/LEQS/LEQSPaper2

7.pdf>

4. Hurd, Elizabeth Shakman “The Politics of Secularism in

International Relations”(Princeton University Press,

Jan 10, 2009),

5. “Secularization and Secularism- History and Nature of

Secularization and Secularism to 1914”

<http://science.jrank.org/pages/11240/Secularization-

Secularism-History-Nature-Secularization-Secularism-

1914.html>

6. “Voltaire- Biography”, The European Graduate School (Graduate

and Postgraduate Studies)

20 | P a g e

< http://www.egs.edu/library/voltaire/biography/>

7. “The Atheism of Karl Marx”, Eternal Word Television Network,

<https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology/ATHEMARX.HTM>

8. Prof. Dr. Bizeul, Yves “Secularism in Europe”, European

Liberal Forum (Berlin; European Liberal Forum, asbl)

9. “Jose Casanova”, Georgetown University: Berkley Center

for Religion, Peace and World Affairs

< http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/jose-

casanova>

10. Casanova, Jose

<file:///C:/Users/Korisnik/Downloads/XLKRLX%20(1).pdf>

11. Alessandro Ferrari, Silvio Ferrari, “Religion and

the secular state: Italian Case”

<http://www.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Italy.pdf>

12. Jones, Nicky “Religious Freedom in a secular society:

The case of the Islamic headscarf in France”, 15 August

2009

<http://www.iclrs.org/docs/Religious_freedom_in_a_secul

ar_society_JONES_161109.pdf>

21 | P a g e

13. Erlanger, Steven, de Freytas-Tamura, Kimiko “Old

Tradition of Secularism Clashes With France’s New Reality”, February

2015

<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/world/old-tradition-

of-secularism-clashes-with-frances-new-reality.html?

_r=0>

14. Tim King, “Secularism in France”, Prospect, the leading

magazine of ideas, March 20 2004

<

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/secularismin

france>

22 | P a g e